If you were in the process of learning something, and as the next step, you were given a choice - reflect 💭 or practice 🏃‍♀️ - what would you choose?

It is common wisdom that practice makes perfect. The more practice we get, the better we become. You've probably heard it before - if you want to become a pro 🌟, put in 10,000 hours of practice. Is it that simple 🤷‍♀️ ? Can reaching expert status just be boiled down to time spent practicing? Not all would agree. About a hundred years ago, a wise man said: “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.”

Reflective thinking is a key driver in becoming a learning organization, which is vital for fostering innovation, creativity, adaptability, and productivity. 

So in today's quest, we will search for an answer to what is reflective thinking? Why is it so important? Yet so hard?

If you are a curious bit 🤓 🧠, come along on this week's quest to understand and untangle the concept of Reflective Thinking.

This episode is done in collaboration with Yomi Labs

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others have already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

Links: 

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover. I come from the other direction -  practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise, I have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of  ideas, and social psychology.

In today's quest, we will attempt, through the view 👓 of some classic social psychology theories, to search for an answer to the question of how and through what mechanisms your social surroundings influence your thoughts 💭, feelings 💗, and actions 🏃‍♀️?

Sprinkled on this path will be stolen candy bars 🍫, corona sneezes 🤧, my masculine personality 🥸  profile, a manager's new shirt 👔 , smoking 🚬 waitresses, and pastel-colored post-it notes. Eventually, this quest for answers will end up in the midst of group rituals 🗿!

If you are a curious bit 🤓 🧠, come along on this week's quest to understand and untangle some of social psychology's main classical perspectives.

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others have already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

special credit for this episode goes to professor H. Lundberg, professor  K. Malmquvist, and doctoral student V. Grönlund - whose lectures in social psychology and sociology I had the luxury to attend in the past month on this very topic. Such an inspiration!

The full list of sources and specific research papers can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

Many of us kind of have a feeling about what burnout is. You are on the end of your rope, exhausted 😫. But what is burnout, and how does it differ from stress? What are the signs of burnout, and what, according to research, is the cause of it?

If you are a curious bit 🤓 🧠, come along on this week's quest to understand and untangle the science and research of burnout.

Enjoy!

Victoria

The full list of sources and specific research papers can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

Resource Links referred to in the episode:

Special credits

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - Special credit as sources for this episode are the following books:

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover, for example, psychology, sociology, neuroscience, biology, etc. I come from the other direction - practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of ideas/history.

Research demonstrates that power's impact on individuals is associated with a set of positive side effects, such as increased performance and outcomes.

However, the positive benefits power has on us individuals are paradoxically the opposite for teams. Evidence suggests that power's impact is negatively related to team performance, outcomes, and corrupt social interactions within teams.

This sparked my curiosity to understand more about power in the context of groups, teams, and organizations - and how to mitigate power's negative effect on teams & organizations.

If you are a curious bit 🤓 🧠, come along on this week's quest to understand and untangle the science and research of power in the context of teams and organizations.

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

The main credit for this episode goes to the professors and scholars, Julie Battilana, Tiziana Casciaro, Dachner Keltner - who´s research is greatly summarized in the following books.

Power, for All: How It Really Works and Why It's Everyone's Business, by Julie Battilana, Tiziana Casciaro, et all

The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, By Dachner Keltner

The full list of sources and specific research papers can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/ 

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover, for example, psychology, neuroscience, biology, etc. I come from the other direction -   practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of  ideas/history

Come along on this week's quest in the Science and research of power.

Searching for answers to questions such as: what is power, what are the origins of it, who gains it, ones gained, what does power does to us?

Some of those answers are grim,  which will bring us to the next set of questions, why is there so much misuse of power, why are power structures so sticky?

However, our quest through the dark forest of power will end on the field of hope, as we seek answers to questions such as how and what do you do to stay on the right side of power?

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

The main credit for this episode goes to the professors and scholars, Julie Battilana, Tiziana Casciaro, Dachner Keltner - who´s research is greatly summarized in the following books. 

Power, for All: How It Really Works and Why It's Everyone's Business, by Julie Battilana, Tiziana Casciaro, et all

The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence, By Dachner Keltner

The full list of sources and specific research papers can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

In this episode, we will talk about the concept of Perfectionism in the Workplace.

This goes back to our widely held (incorrect) assumption: that perfectionism is beneficial to job performance.

Today's episode will, based on current research, poke holes in this assumption - and look at ways to mitigate the negative effects of perfectionism.

If you are a curious bit 🤓 🧠, come along this week's quest to understand and untangle perfectionism at the workplace, details how it is expressed, what to do about it including concrete actual interventions how to prevent feeding perfectionism and develop and foster optimalism.

Victoria

If you want a fast recap of what I just covered - there are slides and visuals posted with the key takeaways of this episode’s material on my website.

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

The full list of sources can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/ Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover, for example, psychology, neuroscience, biology, etc. I come from the other direction -   practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of  ideas/history

In this episode, we will talk about the concept and Science of Perfectionism.

While there is scientific consensus that perfectionism leads to negative consequences, there has been a longstanding debate within perfectionism research if there are any positive aspects of perfectionism. At what point does healthy striving for perfection turn unhealthy?

Come along this week's quest to understand and untangle what perfectionism is, how, when, and why it is problematic.

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

The full list of sources can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

In this episode, we will talk about the concept of Autonomy-Supportive Organizations.

An autonomy-supportive organization is an organization that fulfills its members’ autonomy needs.

When we perceive that we are free to perform our work in our own way within an autonomy-supportive context, we are more likely to find work engaging, have higher job satisfaction, and increased performance.

We also engage in more self-directed behaviors, address obstacles and challenges more freely, and feel more support and connection.

And the great news is that you can deliberately foster such an environment

Come along on this quest to find answers: what are the most effective interventions, according to science,  for organizations to foster an autonomy-supportive environment? And how self-determination theory relates to autonomy.

Enjoy!

Victoria

If you want a fast recap of what I just covered - there are slides and visuals posted with the key takeaways of this episode’s material on my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

Each episode´s content stands on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

The full list of sources can be found at my website https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

This is a Bonus Episode, that goes along with Science of Autonomy

It is not only modern software development organizations that spent many cycles on the concept of autonomy.  Autonomy is a topic that has engaged us, humans, for thousands of years, in philosophy, ethics, science, politics, and business.

This is a quick crash course, a simplified version, of discussions around autonomy free will. 

Enjoy!

Victoria

A full list of sources can be found at https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover, for example, psychology, neuroscience, biology, etc. I come from the other direction -   practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of  ideas/history

In this episode, we will talk about the concept and Science of Autonomy

Autonomy is a common term frequently thrown around in organizations in the past decade.

Enjoy!

Victoria

Each episode´s content, stand on the shoulders of giants - on what others already figured out - scientists and researchers who spent their whole life dedicated to answering specific questions. Huge credit to all those people and their excellent work!

A full list of sources can be found at https://www.victoriavallstrom.com/

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I am not a scientist in the areas I cover, for example, psychology, neuroscience, biology, etc. I come from the other direction -   practical experience working and creating things with other people in organizations. Education-wise have a degree in computer science, coupled with university studies in the history of  ideas/history